At the end of 2015, the Chevrolet brand will no longer be available. But before you lump Chevrolet in with Pontiac and Oldsmobile and Mercury and Plymouth, understand that this piece of news applies only to Europe.
General Motors has decided to focus its resources on expanding Opel after Chevrolet failed to make headway in Europe. So the Chevrolet brand is being discontinued in Europe at the end of next year, and new Opel products are in development.
Among these new products will be a budget minicar intended to win customers of the Chevrolet brand as well as those who have been buying budget brands such as Renault’s Dacia and Volkswagen’s Skoda. The five-door Opel minicar will be priced starting at 10,000 euros ($12,926) and will be launched in summer 2015 badged as an Opel Karl in Europe and as a Vauxhall Viva in theUK, according to a statement released by Opel this week.
The Karl will be slightly smaller than the Opel Adam, which itself is shorter than the Opel Corsa.
GM had positioned Chevrolet as a budget brand in Europe, selling mostly small cars such as the Spark and Aveo. It remains to be seen whether penny-pinching buyers in the region who may have purchased a Chevrolet will now shop Opel.
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